The global intravenous solutions market size was valued at USD 11.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 8.0% over the forecast period.
The Doctors’ Insurance Agency has worked to provide independent Medical Professional Liability Insurance policies for physicians, advanced practice clinicians, Registered Nurses, and all types of allied healthcare professionals.
Lately, these independent Medical Professional Liability Policies have tilted toward Aesthetic and Wellness Liability (over clinical professional liability).
Aesthetic Professional Liability Policies (APLI) can present in one of two categories: the Individual or the organization liability policy.
Within the last five years, IV hydration has grown from peripheral innovation of these APLI policies to a main focus of the med spa/wellness industry.
IV hydration can deliver minerals, vitamins, fluids, electrolytes, and other supplements to the client. In turn, it can boost energy, ease headaches, and improve the user's overall health.
One of the exciting aspects of IV hydration clinics is that they can be founded and run by Cosmetic Registered Nursesunder the supervision of a licensed physician medical director, so nurses with a passion for health, wellness, and an affinity for starting IVs are turning to opening their own clinics.
Within this growth niche, The Doctors’ Insurance Agency is working with these wellness professionals to find the right liability insurance carrier, offering coverage that fits given their specific state regulatory requirements for medical supervision.
Since the growth is coming mainly from mobile IV therapy businesses and Vitamin IV therapy lounges (which often are an add on to existing Medi Spas owned by RNs, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants, the issue of insuring the medical director properly and affordably is important!
Insuring the Medical Director
Administrative Duties:
Every state and locality has their own rules and regulations, so carriers assume you are in compliance with the ones governing you.
{If you are unsure of the rules in your state, please check with your local medical board or with a healthcare attorney for guidance.}
That said, as far as Aesthetic/wellness liability insurance goes, medical directors are routinely contracted from outside to provide the required oversight.
Many individual policies can be underwritten to add an endorsement Sample Medical Director Administrative Duties Endorsement The important language in this medical director (supervisor) endorsement is:
The following provision is added to the WHO IS AN INSURED Section:
Medical director means a healthcare provider employed or contracted by you in an administrative capacity.
Your medical director while acting within the course and scope of his or her duties as your medical director, but only for the medical director’s vicarious liability based solely on professional services by you, or any other healthcare professional for whose acts or omissions you are legally responsible.
In many states this language in this endorsement satisfies the independent IV hydration professional’s need to include cover for the “Medical Director”.
Additionally, the organization IV MedSpa Professional Liability policies (policies in which the entity is the Named Insured, including more than one aesthetic,/IV professional) include coverage for the Medical Director administrative duties for no additional premium. Rather than charge for an endorsement (as they do with the individual policies), they bake in the price of the medical director.
Insuring the Medical Director
Supervision/Chart Reviews/Good Faith Exams However, depending on the carrier, supervision of staff and file reviews may fall into the category of indirect patient care, which generally adds to the cost.
We have received specific responses from our national underwriting team about the importance of including ‘Chart Review’ in the request (on the application) describing the duties of supervising ‘medical directors’ in Texas.
For Texas, the Medical Director duties are outlined by The Texas Medical Board 193:17. These duties include but are not limited to ensuring policies and protocols as well as reviewing a portion of patient charts.
The terms for Supervising Physicians and Medical Directors have been used interchangeably and can entail different things state to state. For Medpro’s purposes, they have broken these down within our underwriting guidelines so that we can offer two options depending on a clients need.
Please note that we are not able to offer these coverages in some states due to UW restrictions (Example: Comp Fund states). Our Medical Director endorsement covers a third party for basic administrative duties such as setting office protocols and guidelines within a practice.
This endorsement would not cover the Physician for chart review or recommendations regarding care of a patient. It is simply a blanket endorsement that costs $500 annually for clients who might need to cover the MD broadly in a sense.
Our Supervising Physician endorsement is much more comprehensive. This would provide coverage for the physician in the scenario where they have involvement with individual patient care such as recommendations, direct communication, chart review, etc. As you noted, this still would not cover the physician for direct patient care as we cannot contemplate that exposure under our program.
The supervising physician coverage is more expensive as it covers more for the physician.
Understanding these details and nuances is what distinguishes the Doctor’s Insurance Agency’s work in this space of aesthetic professional liability insurance.
We will work with you and our production underwriters and carriers to find the policy that fits for you as an individual aesthetic professional or to cover your growing organization.